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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Mewtwo EX & Eelektrik

To play or not to play - that is the question.

Hello all The Deck Out readers!

You know what day today is? That’s right - Mewtwo EX day. In fact, today is the
last day of Mewtwo EX series! Today’s Mewtwo EX deck is the deck, which took
the whole Japan by storm. It has yet been the most played and successful Mewtwo
EX deck in Japan and is still doing fine even while Dark Rush has been released.
It also seems that it’s no different in the west, Eelektrik variants are all
over the top spots in the first weekend of States.

Unlike in west, in Japan Eelektrik/Zekrom was all the rage even before Mewtwo
EX was released. The Japanese meta was a combination of Chandelure and
Eelektrik/Zekrom decks. As we all know, Eelektrik/Zekrom never got the same
attention in the U.S. while the format was HGSS-NVI but Eelektrik/Magnezone
replaced its place in the metagame. Fitting Mewtwo EX in the
Eelektrik/Magnezone is so much more difficult than to an ordinary
Eelektrik/Zekrom and that’s the main reason why the deck’s that have been doing
well in the State Championships have been Eelektrik/Zekrom variants, not
Magnezone/Eelektrik variants.

In this entry, I’ll discuss the Eelektrik/Zekrom in general but I won’t forget
other variants either. This is a full breakdown of everything you need to know
about Eelektrik/Zekrom decks.

Everyone should be familiar with the skeleton and idea of this build but let’s
look closer at the cards the skeleton has – I’ll get to strategy later on in
this article when I’ll show you the complete list.

Card Explanations

Zekrom

Zekrom is THE attacker in this deck. Even though this
deck has now the overpowered Mewtwo EX AND a second EX I’ll introduce later in
this article, the normal Zekrom is still the most important attacker of the
deck. In fact, thanks to EX Pokémon and the metagame change, Zekrom is even
more important attacker than in the past. This deck was only a mediocre deck in
the HGSS-NVI format but thanks to the added firepower from the EX Pokémon, this
deck reached the tier1 spot in an instant.

The thing what makes Zekrom so good in the current format is that it’s
versatile (Yeah, you heard me right). It’s versatile not because you can put it
in any deck but because it OHKOs almost every non-EX Pokémon in the format and 2HKOs
every EX Pokémon in the format. The great thing about this is that you can use
it at any point of the game. When it comes to Mewtwo EX; you don’t want to
start attacking with it before your opponent starts attacking with it. With
Zekrom you can hit the whole game through and in the best case scenario you
need the other attackers only for the last prize/2 prizes.

Zekrom is easily energy accelerated with Eelektrik in this deck and this is the
main combo in this deck even though it has multiple attackers. The synergy
between Eelektrik and Zekrom is as good as it can get.

Mewtwo EX

In this deck, Mewtwo EX uses once again only the X-Ball attack. With
Eelektriks on the bench and manual attachment Mewtwo EX can easily have 4
energy attached to it in just one turn. This energy amount is usually enough to
KO anything that your opponent has as their active Pokémon and Zekrom can’t
OHKO. However, usually Mewtwo EX works in this deck only as a Mewtwo EX
counter. The other decks that Mewtwo EX is good against are Trainer locking
“130 HP decks” like Chandelure and Vanilluxe. Zekrom/Eelektrik’s main weakness
was that kind of decks because it could hit only for 120 damage in the past
format but thanks to EXs, the magical number problem has been solved for
Zekrom/Eelektrik.

Eelektrik

Eelektrik is the energy accelerator of the deck. It takes a lighting energy
from your discard pile with its ability and attaches it to one of your benched
Pokémon. Unlike Typhlosion Prime, it doesn’t damage the Pokémon it attaches
energy to but you must always remember that it attaches only on the bench. The
deck that has Eelektrik as its energy accelerator has to be built while taking
the ability of Eelektrik into an account. The deck should always have at least
one free retreater (usually the starter) and at least 1 Switch (usually you
want to run 2 Switches). Retreating is in huge role in Eelektrik decks because
it must be done once in a while to keep the deck going.

Cleffa

Cleffa is the starter and free retreater I mentioned. The deck is so much
better with Cleffa than without Cleffa that the difference is unbelievable.
This deck doesnät usually get into attacking in the first 1-2 turns so Cleffa
is an ideal starter for a Collector based set-up deck like this. You can search
the Pokémon you need to evolve on your bench with Collector and Eeeeeek at the
same time. This helps you to thin your deck and set-up as fast as you can. This
deck is usually fully operational and evolved in T3 thanks to Cleffa.

Pokémon Collector - Pokegear 3.0.

Consistency at its best. Not to mention that this deck so consistent thanks
to Collectors that it’s unheard of. 4 Pokémon Collectors and 2 Pokegears is the
standard mad-consistent set-up combo for me and it means a chance of 95% for a
T1 Collector.
Level Ball

The skeleton list of this deck doesn’t have that many Pokémons that Pokémon
Communication would be good. After all these cards are only for the set-up and
every single Pokémon EX of this deck can be sought via Pokémon Collector. Level
Ball is a great card because it can get you every single non-attacking Pokémon
of this deck for you. In the final list you’ll see that I have mixed both
Pokémon Communications and Level Balls and why is that. Because of Junk Arm –
versatility is the God.

Professor Juniper - Sage’s Training

This deck takes energy from the discard pile thus using discarding draw is
the only correct way to go. This deck is very consistent only with Cleffa and
Collector and since it can also use 2 best draw cards of the format, it becomes
even more consistent. In my opinion, this deck is one of the most consistent
decks that this format will ever have and that’s one of the reasons, why it
will become so good.

N

N is the most essential card for the EX-wars. This deck isn’t the fastest
of the format so N helps it came back from the early game prize deficit. N also
helps in the mid game because this deck doesn’t need so many resources to get
an attacker ready after a KO than the fastest decks like Celebi Prime variants.

Well, you want to play this card if you aren’t able to OHKO the active
Pokémon for some reason. It helps you to take the advantage in the prize race
match-ups and it may help you in all kind of game situations as well.

Every time you want to attack with any of your attackers, you want to have
Eviolite attached to them since the one time your opponent can’t OHKO your
attacker, you’ll get ahead in the prize race. This deck gets into prize race
against so many decks that the whole deck should be built while keeping that in
mind.

Energy

Nothing too surprising here. The optimal amount of Lighting Energy is
somewhere between 8 and 10 but running 4 Double Colorless Energy is a must if
you want to win Celebi/Mewtwo variants. DCE is also very helpful if your final
list runs Zekrom EX, which I’ll talk about later on.

Full decklistThis is the list that my fellow Finnish player played
in the ECC and placed 3rd in the tournament.

As you can see, it isn’t that different from the skeleton list. However, there
are some things that might seem very weird for someone.

First, 4-4 Eelektrik line. This is for 2 different reasons. Eelektrik is the
energy accelerator in this deck and you must manage to set-up it in every game.
That’s why running 4 Tynamos is a must.
Your worst enemy is Celebi/Mewtwo/Tornadus variants that take fast prizes in
early game. You must maximize Tynamos in your deck to minimize the damage that
CMT may do to you. The reason to run 4 Eelektriks is pretty simple – you draw
them without using Communications/Level Ball to search for them. If you look
closely to the list, you notice that it doesn’t run any Communications. The
reason, why it doesn’t, is that every Pokémon in the deck is searchable with
Pokémon Collector except Eelektrik.

The other thing, which is important to notice, is the lack of Zekrom EX. In
this deck, there are 3 PlusPowers, 4 Junk Arms to do the big damage. The player
playing this deck, didn’t feel like Zekrom EX is necessary and it worked very
well for me. On the other hand, my big brother played the exact same list in
the tournament and went 7-1 in the Swiss and he had 1 Zekrom EX instead of 4th
Zekrom. He also said, it was huge help in most games. So, as I said, it’s a
personal preference if you decide to play Zekrom EX or not. However, one thing
is for certain – this list runs very smoothly.

Magnezone variants

Magnezone/Eelektrik variants were very popular in the
ECC but as we look at the standings of both – ECC and US States – we can see
one thing that is clear: Magnezone variants are too slow in this format. And
that’s a fact. I know there are many players that love Magnezone and its
Magnetic Draw but sometimes it’s very important to face the truth – pure Eelektrik
decks are simply better in the current metagame and format. The reason for this
is that Magnezone doesn’t give you a huge edge over anything even though you
have N that works very well with Magnetic Draw. The main attackers of Eelektrik
variants are all Basics and you don’t need a lot of resources to get them into
play. From time to time, N doesn’t disrupt Eelektrik variants at all – they already
have everything they need to win the game on the bench.

We’ll have to just wait and see if Magnezone can make a comeback in the next
weekend’s State Championships but I doubt it. However, there might be a future
for Magnezone in for example Magneboar. However, at the moment the future of
Magnezone looks pretty murk.

Zebstrika/Zapdos variant

This isn’t widely discussed Eelektrik variant because
it hasn’t done that well in any of the tournament but I just wanted to point
out that it existed. This Eelektrik variants has 2 strategies to win the game:

1) Use Zapdos like a Catcher to take the early prizes from low HP Basics
2) In the late game, Catcher something immobile to the active position and then
N your opponent into a small hand and start taking prizes from the bench with
Zebstrika.

This variant is also very deadly against Durant since Durant has no real answer
against Zebstrika’s Disconnect since Disconnect works just like a Vileplume but
is an attack. I believe that this deck could have great potential if there were
enough skilled players to test and improve the deck but at the moment it seems
that everyone has already forgotten about it.

Tech options

There are mainly 2 tech options that I would suggest
everyone to try in their Zekrom/Eelektrik variants. They are:

Terrakion

Terrakion is naturally at its best against mirror
matches. Terrakion with Eviolite is very difficult to OHKO and is only OHKOable
with Zekrom EX or Zekrom and 3 PlusPowers. Getting Revenge kill with Terrakion
and then another with Terrakion’s second attack can be a game-changer at any
point of the game. Playing Terrakion requires you to play Prism energy or Basic
Fighting in your deck but that doesn’t mess with the deck’s consistency too
much. After all, if running 3 cards in your deck can turn the most common (and
difficult) match-up around, it really is worth it.

Zebstrika

Zebstrika is the best against two kinds of decks: Durant and funnily enough
– Vileplume variants. One Zebstrika can easily turn the game around against
Durant because of Disconnect and if you’re having problems with Durant match-up
with your Eelektrik variant, I suggest you try 1-1 Zebstrika line as a tech.
Zebstrika is also very good against Vileplume variants. It might seem strange
that trainer lock is good against trainer lock decks but in fact it isn’t. To
set-up the trainer lock, trainer lock decks require Items, which Disconnect
stops. No more Rare Candy or Pokémon Communication. As you have Catcher and
Disconnect on your side, you can get rid of their Oddishes before they have a
chance to evolve and after that you have the game pretty much wrapped up.

ConclusionAll in all, Zekrom/Eelektrik is the deck that will
probably stay around for the rest of the format. It has been doing very well in
Japan even after the release of Dark Rush and Dragon Selection only makes
Eelektrik better than ever (say hi to Rayquaza EX). It’s also already
dominating the tournaments in both Europe and the U.S. so if you haven’t for
some reason built this deck before or tested against it, you should.

I hope you found this entry informative and that it wasn’t too late. The first
weekend of States has already passed but there are still weekends left to catch
up with this deck. As I said, this was also the last entry of the Mewtwo EX series
and I’ll probably concentrate on The Deck Out goes global and any new and
interesting decks that will pop-out from the U.S. States in the future. I’m
also planning to get an article about the ECC comet deck “MeesieMew” out soon,
so look forward to that!

Thanks for reading and good luck for States this weekend! I’ll be attending my
first States this weekend as well with a report like always.

I'd say 60%-70% is about right, 50% is just 4 collector and I don't think pokegear add that much, Durant doesn't even have a 95% chance of T1 collector. Maybe he's banking on opponents having mulligans?

I like this deck. What i don't like is that every other archetype is being left behind by PCI or unless someone creates a new deck that beats this archetype [Calling Esa Juntunen, please XD], this year will be very mono pokémon-nature.

By looking at Dark Explorers (abbv. DEX, maybe?), Raikou EX will be GG, and in BW5, Rayquaza EX will be a real monster (Prism + Dynamotor, anyone?).

Anyone thinking about the near future, get your Eelectriks and Tynamos ASAP!!!

BTW, seen the BW5 spoiler, i must say, Gothitelle is nice (death sentence is cool), Mew EX is a low HP beast, and Rayquaza EX is monstrous.

Anonymous: Yeah, I should've put Thundurus in the article as a tech. It's good against CMT variants that have high amount of Tornadus in their decks.

Kuiper: Haha, don't take my percentages literally, I'm not a mathematician (Thankfully, otherwise, I wouldn't play this game). With 2 Gears and 4 Collectors, you can easily get a T1 Collector in every single tournament game, where you need it. That's what I meant with 95%.

Temporario: Yeah, Eelektrik will get so much boost from the next two sets. However, so does the other decks as well.

Elias: Haha, don't worry, I'm planning to go rogue at this year's Worlds! But yeah, Eelektrik decks are probably going to stay a long time in the picture. There seems to be no end to them.

Aaron: Smeargle is something that's very interesting because it works very well when your opponent doesn't concentrate on countering it by playing but the truth is that it's very easily outplayed with for example Pokegears. But true, Smeargle and Skyarrow Bridge even better with Thundurus since they all benefit from the free retreat.

Anna: It depends on the situation. For example, whenever you have 2 energy attached to your Mewtwo EX, your opponent either needs 3 energy to kill it or 2 PlusPowers. That's the most usual situation, I have stumbled upon the tournament. So let me rephrase : "Your opponent needs more resources to OHKO your Mewtwo EX".

Gotta say Esa, the lack of discussion of Thundurus and Smeargle was disappointing :| Especially considering Zapdos got in :P Smeargle is just one of those things where it's not really just about portrait, but it's about knowing your opponent's hand. They can hold a Juniper in hand early game, or an N in hand late game, but you can also play around them in the same way they can play around you.

[L][C] Thunder Fang: 30 damage. Flip a coin, if heads the opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Paralyzed.[L][L][C] Voltage Arrow: Discard all Lightning Energy attached to this Pokemon, then do 100 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance when damaging the Bench.)

Crawdaunt: Yeah, I forgot Thundurus (no idea why), sorry for that but the lack of discussion about Smeargle is because I just don't like it. As I have said a few times in my comments, Smeargle is too easily outplayed by a skillful opponent and a bad Portrait can ruin any game. I just aren't fan of that card. Of course, it's good after late game N if your opponent draws a supporter from their N, which you can use or they can't discard. Thanks for the critique!

Anonymous: Yeah, Raikou EX will be huge in that deck since it can snipe off almost anything from the bench.

I have been playing around with this deck at league and iFind that Zapdos helps a lot for EX decks or any really. If Zapdos starts you just hit all the bench pokemon once depending on HP and Zekrom's Bolt Strike finishes them off. With uneviolited Mewtwo EX- 170-50= 120. Perfect for Bolt Strike. As well iTeched in Entei-Raikou Legend. When you verse a CMT deck they usually have 2-3 Celebi out, and with the unseen Legend played you can knock those out while discarding energy off of E-R-L, so Mewtwo EX has a hard time revenge KO it.

The Cleffa Whisperer: Zapdos is great for example in mirror matches, if you can get it out early. In the late game it's usually just a nuisance for you because you don't want to usually use its second attack. ERL is a very interesting idea against CMT since they do sometimes have a lot of Celebis on the field. It's sad that ERL isn't good against anything else since no Pokémon has powers anymore excluding Celebi and Typhlosion.